(Reuters) -BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, posted a 25% rise in its second-quarter adjusted profit on Friday, benefiting from investors pouring money into its various market funds.
On an adjusted basis, BlackRock earned $1.4 billion, or $9.28 per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $1.1 billion, or $7.36 per share, a year earlier.
The New York-based firm ended the second quarter with $9.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM), up from $8.5 trillion a year earlier and higher than $9.1 trillion in the first quarter this year.
Markets have staged a comeback so far this year, braving the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes and a banking crisis that have raised risks of an economic downturn later in 2023.
Revenue at BlackRock fell 1.4% to $4.4 billion from a year earlier, driven by the impact of market movements over the past 12 months on average AUM, it said.
Investors will be keeping a close eye on BlackRock’s quarterly earnings to better gauge the health of the financial sector and take their positions accordingly.
Net inflows for the quarter for BlackRock were at $80 billion, down from $89.6 billion a year ago.
BlackRock last month laid off employees impacting less than 1% of its total workforce due to budget reallocations to support critical priorities. It had cut 500 jobs earlier in the year as well.
BlackRock has been attempting to enter into the crypto space as it seeks the Securities and Exchange Commission’s permission to list an exchange-traded fund that will reflect the price of bitcoin.
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
